Online tutorial a good start

Joyce Lain Kennedy CAREERS NoW

Published Sunday September 16, 2012 at 6:00 am

Q As a new college graduate looking to get started in my career, I could use some help understanding the whole job search deal. For example, my buddy told me the best place to find a good position is on a company’s website. Is this true? What books do you suggest that I read? — R.B.

A I do have a recommendation for you and other job hunters, but it’s not a book: It’s a new 45-hour online tutorial that reveals how best to handle the search process in today’s changed world. The tutorial is broken into 13 digestible, no-baloney segments. You’ll love it.

“The Job Search Solution” online tutorial is orchestrated by Tony Beshara, a legend in the recruitment and job placement industry. In short, borrowing from Balzac, Beshara knows how to find a job as well as a sailor knows the open sea.

Since he began recruiting in 1973, Beshara has helped more than 100,000 people find a new job. Working one by one, Beshara has placed more than 8,700 people in new employment, interviewed over 26,000 job seekers and met with 23,000 hiring authorities. I can’t think of any individual with a better track record than Beshara’s in job search management.

His tutorial isn’t free, but it is modestly priced at about $50 for all 13 segments. You can read details on Beshara’s website, TheJobSearchSolution.com.

Here are five snippets drawn from 30 myths described in “The Job Search Solution” tutorial, starting with your question about the likelihood of finding the best job openings on company posts.

Don’t assume there really is an opening; 25 percent to 30 percent of the time, companies post openings on their sites just to be able to say they did it. When they intend to promote from within or hire the nephew of the vice president of sales, they need to justify their internal or family hire by saying, “We searched all over the place for qualified candidates and couldn’t come up with anybody better than the person we hired!” At least 20 percent of the time, these companies never hire anybody.

“An MBA makes me a better candidate.” It’s a myth that, in the business setting, an MBA or any other kind of a graduate degree will automatically get you a better position or more money. This may be true in academic circles or pure scientific organizations. But I’ve never seen a candidate hired in business because he or she had an MBA or other advanced degree.

“Interviewing is a two-way street.” That’s simply not true. Interviewing is a one-way street, at least for most of the process, and that one-way street belongs to the hiring authority. The critical objective is for the candidate to sell himself or herself as hard as possible to get an offer. The candidate can then qualify the opportunity.

“The most qualified candidate gets hired.” Myth! The candidates who get the jobs are the candidates who sell themselves the best in the interviewing process. More often than not, the most qualified candidates are not hired, unless they sell themselves better to the hiring organization. Qualifications are the 20 percent threshold that needs to be crossed to get the interviewing opportunity. But 80 percent to 90 percent of getting a job comes down to the people who are not only reasonably qualified, but who sell themselves the best in the interviewing process.

“You’re exactly what we want.” Not so fast! This type of misleading statement that you encounter in the job-finding process is emotionally debilitating, especially when an offer does not formally materialize.